The challenge
EZOPS develops artificial intelligence-driven solutions that enhance productivity for middle and back-office teams in the financial services industry. For the business, having a cost-effective way to securely and easily distribute software releases to customers is critical.
For many years, EZOPS relied on an internally developed legacy application to distribute software releases to customers. Maintaining that system pulled engineers away from the core product every time the company wanted an enhancement, and Jim Zucker, CTO at EZOPS, knew the team needed a more streamlined method to deliver software releases, patches and installers.
"Maintaining the system took a lot of time away from the core product. Every time I wanted an enhancement, we had to steal engineers away from delivery."
Jim Zucker · CTO at EZOPS
A key requirement for the new platform was ease of use and extremely low maintenance overhead, so the development team could stay focused on the company’s core software products without distraction. EZOPS also wanted detailed logging of customer access to downloads, so that licensing entitlements could be audited and accurately tracked.
The solution
In June 2019, EZOPS successfully launched a new web-based software distribution portal, built on Zendesk Guide for content management and user entitlements, and SendSafely for secure access to file downloads. The solution did not require any custom development and provides customers with familiar EZOPS branding and a consistent Zendesk workflow experience.
Customers authenticate through Zendesk and browse a customized list of release and support articles based on their specific licensing and subscription levels. Each product has its own Guide article that includes a software download link directly to a SendSafely Workspace, where the files are securely stored. The integration automatically synchronizes customer entitlements between the two systems, ensuring that users only have access to download their contracted products.
All customer access and download activity is logged within SendSafely, where it can be reviewed and audited by EZOPS administrators. Customers can also subscribe to an activity feed within each SendSafely Workspace, so that they are automatically notified when new downloads are published. By using the SendSafely platform to store and distribute software, EZOPS customers gain fast and secure access to very large file downloads.
"We like to leverage the ‘Platform as a Service’ model wherever possible, so that I don’t have to hire people to manage services and servers."
Jim Zucker · CTO at EZOPS
What’s next
As the EZOPS development team continues to streamline its operations, they plan to use the SendSafely API to publish releases directly into each Workspace as part of a broader push to automate more of the release process.
